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Berea College Farm Store Project: Marketing and Consumer Survey Analysis
Anne-Sophie Gabriel
Berea College
Professor Eric Kinnamon
BUS 395 Internship
14 August 2013
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Introduction
The Berea College Farm was created to enable students to acquire knowledge and experience in
agriculture and natural resources. As the facilities expanded to include bigger projects, the need
for cost marginalization increased. The farm is certified organic and has been Animal Welfare
Approved by the state. The farm is a part of Berea Farmers Market as well. Considering the fact
that the revenue from the stand was not enough to cover all of the costs it takes to run the farm,
the idea for a Farm Store came to light. The new idea for the project implemented the creation of
a new business plan. The main goal of the Farm Store is to minimize cost of running the farms
facilities. The Farm Store is to be designed as a regional example of financial sustainability and
profit from which the students will be able to learn. In its marketing plan, the Farm Store will
enable Berea College Farms to expand its facilities. Seeing that the store will be open 25 hours
per week, management will be looking to increase the number of local customers and tourists
through a marketing plan.
Overview
The marketing aspect of the farm store project was created to learn and assess production
processes, pricing decisions to develop a new marketing plan. The results of the marketing
project are to help set up measurable goals for the farm and for future data collection.
The reason for conducting the surveys was simple: Having a clear idea of what the customer
needs, expectsalong with understanding who the customer base of a market isare an
essential of maintaining a successful balance between the shoppers and the company/businesss
goals. Since Berea College Farms is a part of the farmers market, creating a survey that would
accommodate for both the Farm Store and Farmers Market was ideal to get a better
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understanding of what the customers thought of the Markets products, the prices, convenience,
etc. The survey was to focuse on the general demographic of the shoppers, their opinion on the
convenience of the market, the importance of having locally grown foods available and their
expectations of Berea Farmers Market.
Creating the survey
Due to the fact that the surveys were going to be conducted during farmers market hours, it was
ideal to keep it short and somehow obtain crucial information. The process of the creation of the
survey encompassed many aspects of merchandise marketing based on consumer behavior and
decision making. To be able to gain relevant information, the survey was designed with the
consumers perspective in mind. Evaluating the demographic of the market requires asking the
audience their age, gender, location, income, household without being overly intrusive.
An ideal survey would keep the person who is taking it engaged and interested. An article titled
Online Research: Now & Next 2011 revealed three main points that proved to be great
difficulty. One of the pints advised the reader to consider the survey as a form of communication
that keeps the survey taker engaged (Puleston & Schillewaert, 1993, p. 557). This means figuring
out ways to ask mundane questions in an innovative and interactive way. The second point it
brought up was to keep the readers attention from the start of the survey. Some tips were to
warm-up the survey taker by introducing to the topic little by little. To put it in their own
words to keep the survey interesting, breaking the information into sound-bites, telling a story,
adding some imagery and humour, results in respondents investing more time in the survey and
giving more thoughtful feedback (Puleston & Schillewaert, 1993, p. 558). The third point it
brought up was focusing on social psychology. A good way to help a survey feel less
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overwhelmed with imposing open-ended questions was to give them an example of a well-
written response to establish a social benchmark that they copy (Puleston & Schillewaert,
1993, p. 558). Giving the survey taker the option of participating in autonomously is another way
of receiving authentic answers since the survey will then have taken more time to continue with
the survey (Puleston & Schillewaert, 1993, p. 558).
Another article revealed the way consumers make their decisions based on the amount of choices
they have presented to them. It article went on to state that the more options a consumer has, the
faster they will make choices which could possibly result in a poorer decision that leaves the
person less satisfied than they started off (Levav et al, 2012). The article also went on to state
that, Peoples cognitive limitations lead them to seek ways to simplify their decisions. [...]
cognitive constraints can drive people to simplify decisions by adopting a satisficing goal
(Levav et al, 2012, p. 586). The consumer behavior research was to see what kind environment
and elements had to be present to aid the consumer in making their choices. The information
from these two articles was used to create the survey for Berea Farmers Market.
To enable the effectiveness of the survey, questions were modeled after a report called Farmers
Markets: Consumer Trends, Preferences, and Characteristics, written by Ramu Govindasamy,
Marta Zurbriggen, John Italia, Adesoji Adelaja, Peter Nitzsche and Richard VanVranken. The
journal focused on the consumers knowledge of farmers markets in 1998.
Their survey took place in New Jersey from July to September 1997. Five hundred of these
surveys were passed out in 21 different farmers markets throughout North and Central Jersey
(Govindasamy et al, 1998, p. 3). 336 of the 500 questionnaires returned were found useful (p. 4).
According to the report, consumers considered the farmers market produce to be of higher
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quality (about 98.5 percent) and famers market prices were lower (p. 2). The average money
spent at farmers market was and out 16 dollars (1998). 56 percent thought there was a higher
variety of produce. 30 percent didnt expect the variety to change and 16 percent expect less
variety (p. 9). The top five common ways the shoppers learned about farmers market were s
follows: 50 percent said roadside signs, 49 percent by newspaper and passing by, 42 percent by
word of mouth and 15 percent by flyers (p. 15). According to the results the most popular
method of recognition for the farmers markets in the area was by roadside signs. At the end of
the report was a survey used as a reference to create the survey for Berea Farmers Market.
Method
Participants
Participants in this study consisted of 52 females, 16 males and 8 who did not disclose their
gender for a total of 76 between the ages of 18 and over.
Procedure
The entire data collection process lasted a span of six weeks from June 22 to July 20. The
surveys took place every Tuesday from 3:30-6:30PM and every Saturday from 9AM to 12PM for
a total of twelve days. The shoppers were to come to the survey booth willingly and to
participate in the survey. Each survey took about 3-5 minutes to complete and as a token of
gratification, a Farmers Market bumper sticker was given to each person who took the time to
complete a survey.
Results
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Advertisment
Figure 1
As seen in Figure 1, 45% of the market goers had first about the market through word of mouth.
The second most popular choice, with 26% of the participant votes, was other. The other
column had an option where the survey taker could write in their form of discovery some of
which were working in the ANR department, vendor, newsletter and Facebook. The
least popular columns were Radio, TV and Magazine.
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Visits and Spending
Figure 2
Based on the average responses, shoppers came to Berea Farmers Market once per week which
averaged out to be about 44% of the shoppers, which meant that 40% of the shoppers come to
market for times per month. According to Figure 2, the second most popular answer, with a
percentage of 20, came from people who were visiting or shopping at the farmers market for the
first time. The third most popular response came from the shoppers who shopped at the farmers
market once every month who made up 13% of the chart in Figure 2. Fourth and fifth most
popular answers come from shoppers who frequented once every two weeks (two times every
month) and twice per week (eight times every month). On average, shoppers spent about $316 on
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groceries. The percentage of their shopping budget shoppers spent at farmers market average
out to be 14.
Expectations
Figure 3
When it came to the shoppers expectation of the produce at farmers market, 73% thought that
the prices of the products were higher than retail stores, 21% thought that the prices would stay
the same and 7% thought that the prices were lower than they expected farmers market produce
to be. Fifty-nine percent of the market goers thought that variety was higher than they expected
at a farmers market and ninety-nine percent of the that the quality of the produce was going to
be better that of a retail store.
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Priority and Distance
Figure 4
For this question, the shopper was allowed to only pick one of the choices given. The most
important conditions that shoppers took into consideration while looking for a place to purchase
produce were quality (39), freshness (21), price (8) and convenience (5).
The average distance that shoppers were traveling to come to farmers market in Berea was
about 14 miles. The most popular form of transportation for the shoppers was driving. The least
popular form of transportation was biking.
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Most Popular Products
Figure 5
According to the results, the most popular products at Berea Farmers Market were as followed:
vegetable (71), fruits (51), baked goods (41), pork (6), poultry (6) and nonfood items (11).
Seventy-one out of seventy-six participants selected vegetables as the main product that they buy
at Berea Famers Market. The least selected option was the nonfood category. This category only
had 11 people and had an average percentage of fourteen.
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Factors of the Farmers Market that Are Important to the Shoppers
Figure 6
The last section of the survey focused on the participants view of what they thought was
important regarding the farmers market. The options consisted of sentences the participant could
choose to either agree or disagree with depending on how strongly they felt about the statement.
The statements were measured on a scale of 1-6 where the higher the number was, the more the
participant strongly agreed. Supporting local farmers and buying local were important factors to
the shoppers. These two options scored the highest on the importance scale with an average of
5.6. The factor that scored the least was the importance of price. According to the results, the
price of the products do somewhat matter to the shoppers.
Discussion
The main reason for the survey conduction was to get an overview of who the shoppers of Berea
Farmers Market were. The results of the survey showed that 68% percent of the shoppers who
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came to the market while the survey was being conducted were females and 21% were male. The
rest was undisclosed. There were many limitations to this study because it was not a
representation of everyone who comes to the market. Since the survey was conducted during the
summer, some of the shoppers who typically come to the market during the fall, winter and
spring seasons were not present. On the terms of fist time visits, it is possible that the 20% is
larger than the normal average percentage of first time visitors. This could be to the fact that
there was a 5K run on the first Saturday this survey was conducted. Since it was summer, a lot of
tourists come to visit from out of state which also helped contribute to the large number of
market first timers.
Price is an important factor to the market goers (see Figure. 6). The reason it scored so low was
because the question was negated. In the survey the questions says, The prices of the products
do not matter to me. Since the average answer for the question was somewhat negative on the
agreement scale. It is safe to say that the participants did not agree with the statement which
meant that price was actually an important factor but could be looked over when it come to the
quality of the product when (see Figure 4). This can also be seen with what the participants were
expecting when they came to market (see Figure 3). Of the participants, 73% expected the prices
to be higher than that of a retail facility and 99% expected the quality of the products to be
higher than the quality of the products of retail facilities.
When evaluating the survey itself, some things will have to be adjusted to pertain to the Farm
Stores future surveys. Some of the items that come to mind are the choices for the popular
products, the age category and the way the advertisements options are set up. The popular
products section was missing options that shoppers wrote in items such as Beef and Goat.
The age category will have to spread out to get a more detailed overview. The advertisement
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section of the survey would in the sense that the Magazine and Radio option would be
omitted. The new options would be Facebook and Newsletter since these are what most
participants included.
Instead of traditional marketing, the style of marketing that both Farmers Market and the Farm
Store are focused on is direct marketing. This is where their strength lies. The difference between
direct marketing and traditional marketing id the way the products are sold. Direct marketing
relies on the differences in produce because products vary with each consumers unique taste and
preferences. Traditional marketing involves selling a commodity and not looking at the
difference in products. Traditional marketing is more focused on the pricing of the products
(Stern & Swisher, 2003, p. 1).
The Farm Store and Farmers Market are basically based on direct marketing because they both
deal with the customers on a daily basis and because of that they can provide their customers
with products they will likely not find in larger retail stores. Another way direct marketing is an
advantage is the fact that both can focus on the differences between them and retail stores
through the diversity, quality and the convenience of products. An example of convenience is the
fact the Farm Store will be able to offer ready-to-eat food to customers. Vendors are able to offer
bread and bakery items shoppers will most likely not find in a retail store. Another example is
the difference in the quality of flavor of the products. This can make a big difference. According
to an article written by M.E. Swisher and James Sterns, Consumers often list taste and freshness
as the top reasons for buying directly from farmers. Producers who get their products to
consumers the same day they are harvested will always win on this issue. (p. 2)
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In conclusion, the Farmers Market and the Farm Store have a lot of potential to draw in a bigger
audience in terms of consumers through different marketing techniques. Since the most popular
style of advertisement has been word of mouth, expanding the form of advertising leaves many
choices open. Passing out flyers and possible newspaper ads will likely increase awareness of the
markets. Social media marketing is becoming a largely popular platform for marketing. The next
steps of the project moving forward would be to conduct another survey directed towards the
Farm Store and to set up a secure internet presence through Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, website
with an independent domain, etc. Cooperative marketing between both the Farm Store and
Farmers Marketing is always an option with the likelihood of a wide range of positive results.
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Sources
Govindasamy, R., Zurbriggen, M., & Italia, J. (1998).Farmers markets: Consumer trends,
preferences, and characteristics.New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.
Levav, J., Reinholtz, N., & Lin, C. (2012). The Effect of Ordering Decisions by Choice-Set Size
on Consumer Search.Journal of Consumer Research, 39(3), 585599.
Puleston, J., & Schillewaert, N. (2011). Online Research: Now & Next 2011. The Market
Research Society (Vol. 53, pp. 557560).
Swisher, M. E., & Sterns, James. (2003).An Overview of Small Farm Direct Marketing(pp. 1
4).
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Berea Farmers Market Survey
Thank you for your time taking this survey, all of your data would be taken
anonymously and kept anonymous.
What is your age?
(under 18) (18-24) (25-30) (31-40) (41-54) (55+)
What is your gender?
Male Female
How did you find out about the Berea Farmers Market?
Roadside signs Newspaper
Passing by Magazine
Word of mouth Flyers
Radio Television
Internet Other (specify)
____________________________________
How often do you come to Berea Farmers Market?
Once a week Once in two weeks Twice a week
Once a month This is my first time
On average, how much do you spend on groceries a month? $__________
What percent of that do you spend at Berea Farmers Market? ___________%
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How did you expect the produce at Berea Farmers Markets to be different from that
of other retail facilities?
a. In terms ofquality
Better Worse Same
b. In terms ofvariety
Better Worse Same
c. In terms ofprices
Higher Lower Same
When deciding where to purchase produce, which do you consider most important?
(please select only one)
Convenience Price
Quality Freshness
About how far do you travel to get to Berea Famers Market? ______(in
miles)
What is your form of transportation to Berea Farmers Market?
Walking Biking Driving
What products do you typically buy at Berea Farmers Market?
Pork Poultry Vegetable Fruits Baked Goods
Nonfood
Please flip over, more question on back.
How do you feel about the following statements? Use 1-6 if:
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1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Somewhat disagree
4. Somewhat agree
5. Agree
6. Strongly agree
_____1.Buying locally is very important to me.
_____2. Supporting local farmers is important to me.
_____3. I shop at farmers market due to my lifestyle choices.
_____4.The way the produce is grown important to me.
_____5. The cost of products has the most effect on what I buy.
_____6. The farmers market location is convenient for me.
_____7. The farmers market times are convenient for me.
_____8. I am able to find everything I need when I come to Berea Farmers Market.*
_____9. The prices of the products do not matter to me.
_____10. I shop at farmers markets due to my lifestyle choices.
*If 1-3, what would you like to see more of?
_______________________________________________________
Comments or suggestions:
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
________________
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_____________________________________________________________________________________
________________
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS SURVEY!
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Berea Farmers Market Survey - Mapped and Coded
Thank you for your time taking this survey, all of your data would be takenanonymously and kept anonymous.
What is your age?
(under 18): 1 (18-24): 2 (25-30): 3 (31-40): 4 (41-54): 5 (55+): 6
What is your gender?
Male: 1 Female: 2
How did you find out about the Berea Farmers Market? 0 or 1
Roadside signs Newspaper
Passing by Magazine
Word of mouth Flyers
Radio Television
Internet Other (specify)
____________________________________
How often do you come to Berea Farmers Market?
Once a week: 3 Once in two weeks: 2 Twice a week: 4
Once a month: 1 This is my first time: 0
On average, how much do you spend on groceries a month? $__________
What percent of that do you spend at Berea Farmers Market? ___________%
How did you expect the produce at Berea Farmers Markets to be different from thatof other retail facilities?
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a. In terms ofquality
Better: 1 Worse: -1 Same: 0
b. In terms ofvariety
Better: 1 Worse: -1 Same: 0
c. In terms ofprices
Higher: 1 Lower: -1 Same: 0
When deciding where to purchase produce, which do you consider most important?(please select only one) 0 or 1
Convenience Price
Quality Freshness
About how far do you travel to get to Berea Famers Market? ______(inmiles)
What is your form of transportation to Berea Farmers Market? 0 or 1
Walking Biking Driving
What products do you typically buy at Berea Farmers Market? 0 or 1
Pork Poultry Vegetable Fruits Baked Goods
Nonfood
Please flip over, more question on back.
How do you feel about the following statements? Use 1-6 if:
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Somewhat disagree
4. Somewhat agree
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5. Agree
6. Strongly agree
_____1.Buying locally is very important to me.
_____2. Supporting local farmers is important to me.
_____3. I shop at farmers market due to my lifestyle choices.
_____4.The way the produce is grown important to me.
_____5. The cost of products has the most effect on what I buy.
_____6. The farmers market location is convenient for me.
_____7. The farmers market times are convenient for me.
_____8. I am able to find everything I need when I come to Berea Farmers Market.*
_____9. The prices of the products do not matter to me.
_____10. I shop at farmers markets due to my lifestyle choices.
*If 1-3, what would you like to see more of?_______________________________________________________
Comments or suggestions:___________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS SURVEY!